


Si c'est une âme

by hirilukit



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24865252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirilukit/pseuds/hirilukit
Summary: Pirates say it’s a sign, a path to follow, something that guides you. Luffy doesn’t say anything; he moves forward.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates
Comments: 6
Kudos: 173





	Si c'est une âme

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Si c'est une âme](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21111020) by [Sphe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sphe/pseuds/Sphe). 



> TN: I read the original and couldn't stop thinking about it! I absolutely had to translate it so I could share :) a HUGE thank you to Sphe for the original fic, and also to @vivrcard for the editing again. Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

(Luffy has 9 phrases lined up on his back.)

...

The words written on people’s skin are the first thing their soulmate says to them.

Gol D. Roger contemplates the phrase imprinted on his wrist.

His soulmate will be his greatest weakness, according to the government, pirates, the world, and Roger himself.

I will be your greatest strength, says Rouge.

_(And oh, how right she is! Portgas D. Rouge is the woman who gives him wings. She isn’t a pirate, or even a fighter. And yet, when she stands up straight and looks at you, you know that whatever you do, you don’t stand a chance. She has more passion than the entire world, and more power than the ocean.)_

Roger loves her with all his heart; he tells her sometimes, often, that she deserves better than this, than him. The next instant, Rouge looks him in the eyes and tells him that he doesn’t decide what’s best for her.  
Then she waits a moment, smiles, and tells him that she loves him with so much tenderness that he can’t feel guilty anymore.

_(I could never love someone more than you, Roger.)_

…

Shanks sees love and the heart of his soulmate as a treasure meant to be seized - it’s what pirates do, after all

And then he meets Luffy.

(And with him, a soulmate seems more like a promise.)

(The first time that Shanks sees his back, he gives a start of surprise.

He’s met people with several soulmates before, but it isn’t normal.

He certainly wasn’t expecting to see nine phrases on the back of an ordinary child from the East Blue.)

_(If only he knew.)_

…

The words assure that you’ll cross paths with the people that count.

It might not be the person that you spend or finish your life with, or the marriage of your dreams, or the brief romance of a novel.

It’s the reminder that there’s somebody in your life who’s worth it.

(If the inhabitants of peaceful islands like those of the East Blue like to see it as the promise of eternal love, it certainly isn’t like that for pirates.)

(Because that’s not what matters, they'll tell you. A soulmate isn’t a prison to keep you tied down. They’re the spark that will make your voyage all the more beautiful once you see them again.

…

_(Luffy doesn’t know the words that are etched into his back._

_One day, Sabo and Ace asked if he wanted them to read them to him._

_The words were hardly visible to them, and in any case, they were never that great at reading._

_“I don’t really need to know,” he responds. “If they’re the words of an important person in my life, I’ll understand without knowing them now, right?”_

_That makes sense._

_It’s also what he said to Shanks._

…

Ace is leaving, but with the certainty that Luffy will have people at his side to support him, at least nine of them. He’ll never be alone.

At Alabasta, when he has the pleasure of reuniting with his little brother, the motley crew surrounding Luffy only reinforces what he already knows.

There’s no guarantee that his soulmates will follow him, and yet…

They all have an unshakable passion in their eyes and a glow that he hasn’t seen in many people (but reminds him of the eyes of his brother). They’re only six in number now, but Ace knows that one day there will be nine of them.

(And today, well, he has nothing left to worry about for his brother.)

(Luffy was always the loudest when it came to protecting those dear to him.)

…

Every Strawhat has seen their captain’s back already.

(They don’t talk about it because they don’t need to. One time Usopp brought it up with Luffy, who looked at him and laughed, and that was enough for them.)

…

_(Robin is the one who spends the most time thinking about it._

_Luffy is shirtless for that ridiculous duel, and he has an afro, and he fights, and right now there are maybe a million other things that she could be thinking of._

_But, most of all, he has his back to them, and nobody is saying anything. And so Robin sees, and she’s speechless._

_She reads and rereads and re-rereads the nine phrases until it’s no longer possible._

_After that she repeats them endlessly inside her head._

_It doesn’t make any sense._

_And yet, it does._

_And she wants to cry._

…

Someone asks one day what the Strawhats have written on _them._

They’re unanimous:

“It doesn’t matter.”

_(It doesn’t matter because they don’t need to have Luffy’s first words tattooed on them to know that they’d follow him to the end of the earth.)_

…

Zoro doesn’t say anything.

(He has two phrases on his lower right side.)

_“It has nothing to do with romance,” he says one day to Nami, “it’s just the two people who changed my life.”_

Nami sees in the blue of the ocean the hair of the one the world has meant for her.

_“If it were up to us, we’d tell you everything, but our boss wants to keep as many secrets as he can.”, says her arm._

_(Another time. In another life, if necessary. But that will be for later.)_

_(I’m waiting for you. Always. Vivi had told her.)_

Usopp promised that he would come back to see her.

Sanji says laughingly that his only soulmate is the All Blue, the most beautiful of all the women he chases.

It hardly sounds like a joke.

_He talks to Zeff about it one day, about the romance he’ll never have after Zeff told him that a soulmate is a source of love far more complex than he can imagine._

_“I was talking about love, nitwit. It was never a question of romance.”_

_He doesn’t understand._

_Some years later, seeing Luffy’s back is the last thing necessary for him to say_ oh, _it makes sense._

Chopper doesn’t have a tattoo. He is a reindeer, after all. He didn’t even know that someone could have words written on their body.

Robin has the mark of someone whose soulmate is dead.

_(And for years, when she was fleeing for her life and desperately alone, thinking of the person she was destined for who was gone before she’d even met them, she thought that it was proof that the world had nothing left for her - and that she had nothing more to expect from the world.)_

Franky lost his mark when he lost his body and became a cyborg. He says this one evening, and then doesn’t talk about it anymore.

Brook hasn’t had flesh in a long time.

He doesn’t have the mark that came with it either, and doubtless he’s too old for it anyway.

He doesn’t say anything else.

…

Sabo knows Luffy’s crew by heart from the wanted posters.

He remembers the words that he saw a million times on his brother’s back by heart, too.

Robin is the only other person who’s already awake.

“Do you have a ninth member?”

She seems surprised, for a moment, and Sabo thinks that he’s mistaken; and that a crew made up of Luffy’s soulmates was a bit of a stupid and far-fetched idea _(But one that would suit him so well! And seemed so true! There’s as much of a desire to protect one another in Luffy as there is in his crew, an affection so deep that it seems natural.)_

_(He’s sure that Ace saw it too.)_

Then Robin smiles slowly.

“We will; he had one more thing to settle.”

...

Jinbei has the words of a phrase that he hasn’t heard yet.

When he adopted the life of a pirate, he thought he’d resigned himself to losing loved ones. It was only natural. Instead, he found himself with more people to love than he could’ve imagined.

“We already knew, Jinbei,” Nami says when he asks if it’s strange to have a new member after working together for so long.

He doesn’t understand.

(Some months later, he sees Luffy’s back.

Ace’s words in the prison take on a much deeper meaning.)

...

_The world government can search high and low for Luffy’s soulmate like it’s his greatest weakness, the Strawhats say, laughing. We’re his greatest strength!_

_...  
_

_“Hey! You two! Come over here and untie me.”_

_“Ah! Good to see you, boss! You came to rescue me!”_

_“I’m the great captain Usopp! It’s me who makes the rules on this island! What are you doing here?”_

_“Well, I wouldn’t have thought you were a pirate… is that why you shot a cannonball at our ship?”_

_“Careful not to hit a reef. I’m so glad you managed to escape.”_

_“Gyaaaah!! Help!! Let me go, you bunch of humans!! I hate you all!!”_

_“So you’re the one known as Straw Hat Luffy!! While I was away you sure caused some trouble, didn’t you, bro?”_

_“Good day to you! Yohohoho! You’ll have to excuse me for not greeting you properly before!”_

_“You’re Straw Hat Luffy, right? They just left! Catch up with them! They took him to the elevator!!”_


End file.
